Apparatus for concentrating acid.



E. B. GRAY. 4 APPARATUS FOR GONQENTRATING ACID.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1905.,

Pa tented Oct. 10,1911.

I alvanic;

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELISHA BURRITT GRAY, F BEAUMONT, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR' OF ONE-THIRD TO R. I GRA YAND ONE-THIRD TO J'. L. GRAY, OF ELIZAIBETH, 'NEW JERSEY.

' To all whom it concern: v

Be it known that I, EmsHA Bummer GRAY, residing at Beaumont, in the county 'of Jef APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING- ACID.

ferson and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Concentrating Acid; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention,

' such as will enable others skilled in the art 'eoncentrating weak acid separated from pe-- with water in washing,

esses hitherto inuse it has been customary to treat the weak acid successively in steam pans, open pans surface pans and to which it appertains tomake and use the same. v My invention relates toan apparatus for troleum sludge.

a In the treatment of petroleum, as is well known, there is created termed sludge and which contains a large amount of acid, which, after. it is diluted is generally termed weak acid. employed for separating the acid from the In the patent of J. Gray, No. 1, 1909, he has described a troleum s1udge. -My present invention for concentrating. this .weak acid therefore rendered more important because of the largerquantit J. L. Grray the sludge.

It has been understood as a general rule that it is not economical to concentrate acid when it is much below.4;0 B. .In the procof acid which the processes enable me to separate from iron stills Bythis oldfam'iliar process the sludge is first heated in a steampan which is a lead pan with a lead. steam coil in the bottom. This preliminary heating causes a considerable amount of sludge or tarry matter to separate and rise to the top of the acid. This may. and thus prevented from entering the succeeding pans. These succeedin process, are'rectangular in shape and are made of lead and set on brick arches, with "the fire underneath the brick arches, and v are generally known as open pans After These surface pans are rectangular in shape and are made of sheet lead.

Specification of Letters Patent.

a residuum which is.

Various processes have been then be dipped ofl' pans, of the old apparatus used in practicing the old 5 They are Wai r] Patented 10,

Application filed September 22, 1905. Serial No. 279,744.

lead from the action of the hot'acid at the gravity and temperature mentioned. The -fire passes over the top guided by the arch.- A-large amount. of acid, in this old process, is consumed in the-surface pans by reason of the action between the hydro-carbons of the sludge and the acid when in close proximity with fire, and a considerable amount of the acid is carried" off mechanically by the action of the strong fiow of the gases of combustion in picking up and largely destroying ordecomposing the fine spray which arises'from the vigorously boiling acid. The gases which pass from these surface pans are conducted through anabsorbing tower filled with coke in the usual way, the absorbent agent being a stream of water which discharges into the sewer. The only service of the tower is to avoid contamination of the atmosphere by these'acid bearing gases.- However, all of .this acid or sulfurous gas escaping from the surface pans cannot be so absorbed. Even where lead chambers are adopted for this absorption, the results are only partial and of the acid, being jacketed on the sides and are lined with acid "brick on-theinterior, sides and bottom, and are set oncast iron. plates and covered over the top with -firebrick'arches. .These surface pans are so'constructed to protect the considerable gas is still permitted to escape into the atmosphere, destroying vegetation and in many places violating the law. The lead chamber which is sometimes so used in the absorbingstep' is expensive and even when it is useda yield of from '75 to of the 66 acid contained infthe product delivered to the concentrating pans is about as good a yield as can be obtained. In this old process the acid leavesthe surface pans at from 60 to 64 B., and enters the cast I iron pans which are set in a furnace with the fire underneath and are covered with a lead dome which is water jacketed, these pansbeing, in effect, stills.

At the higher temperatures and gravitles obtaining in the cast iron pans or stills a large amount of acid is vaporized, which.

it has been customary todraw, by means of a steam jet on the outside end, through a lead condensing coil immersed in water, the condensate running back into the cast iron pans or elsewhere in the plant and the non condensable gas escaping into the atmosphere.

the process and apparatus of my-igvention I propose to cheapen'the construction and lessen the fuel consumption for concentrating and the amount of steam used in the condenser, to do away with the absorbing tower or chamber, steam pans, etc., previously employed to prevent any appreciable amount of gas escaping into the atmosphere, and to secure a yield of concentrated acid in many instances as high as 98%. To do this I employ practically open pans and iron stills instead of the previously described succession of steam pans, open pans, surface pans and iron stills commonly used in the art, and I so arrange the conduct of the gases from the iron stills through a condenser that I am enabled to eventually absorb the non-condensable gas'by means of water in a down take pipe.

In the accompanylng drawing .1 have illustrated a form of apparatus which I have successfully employed in carrying out my process.

In this drawing, Figure 1 is a combined side elevation and section. Fig. 2 is a combined end elevation and partial vertical section.

In this drawmg, 1,2, 3, 4, and 5 represent furnaces, which in this instance I have some what-conventionally illustrated as of an" oil burning pattern. I

6 is a supply pipe through WlllCll the weak acid flows into the first pan.

7,; 8, 9 and 10 represent a series of open lead pans resting respectively on the top of the furnaces 1, 2, 3 and 4. Between each of these pans is a dam or trap formed in the' usual manner by adjacent downwardly extending division plates 11 and upwardly extending divisiolr plates 12. The last pan 10 has a perforated end, plate 13 leading into a pipe 14 which feeds a series of stills 15. Each of the stills bears at the bottom a short pipe 16 on each side so that when they ar'e brought together communication lished between the several stills.

is estab- The last still discharges into a cooler 17 by means of 'apipe 18, where it is cooled to a temperature 7 of about 70 F. for storage. Each still bears a lead" dome 19 surrounded-by a water densate which -j acket 20.

21 represents eachstill into a, lead condenser coil 22 in a condensing chamber 23.

2 1 represents a return pipe for the conleads from the condenser coil 22 intothe corresponding still or f elsewhere vapor pipes leading up from lying :in the plant.

The gas which is not condensed is en- 7 trained by water which flows through the 60 escape pipe 25 into the pipe 26, entraining the non-condensable gases which pass from the condenser coil 22 by means of a. pipe 27.

This down flow of water in the pipe 26 creates a partial vacuum and draws the gas from the domes 19 and the cooler- 17, absorbthe cooler 17. In passing through the stills a large amount of the vapor which is generated is condensed by the water jackets about the stills. The remainder flows by means of the pipe 21 into the condenser coil 22, the product of condensation passing by the pipe 24: into the stills, or elsewhere in the plant, while the non-condensable gases, as previously stated, pass by means of the pipe 27 into the pipe 26 in which these gases are entrained by the flowing water, which also serves to entrain any gas which may flow from the cooler 17through the pipe 28.

In employing the process and apparatus of my invention, it will be observed that in the preliminary concentration I use nothing but open pans of improved and simple construction, so that the sludge or tarry matter may at all times be removed. By using open pans on the top of the furnaces instead of the surface pans over which the flame passes, I avoid carrying away and destroying the fine spray rising from the boiling acid into the field of flow of the gases of combustion in the old process and plants. As previously observed, I have avoided employing any absorbing tower and chamber. Besides the open pans of my improved design allow of a large saving in fuel over the old style open pans used for this purpose on account of avoiding the passing of all the heat through the brick arch of the old surface pans. It is true that the action of the acid on the lead is greater in the hottest of these open pans than it was in the old surface pans. There is, however, sic-much less of a plant that the expense of the up-keep in my apparatus is less,'and in addition to this economy in the size of the plant I secure a much greater yield by employing these open pans alone. Either of these is a sufiicient reason for employing only open pans, to perform all the functions previously performed by the succession of steam pans, open pansand surface pans.

In'practice I find that the acid entering the open pans at 40 B. leaves them at about 58 Be. and is finished in the castiron stills to about 66 B., and that-I am able to concentrate'so as to secure a yield of about 98% of the total acid.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is 0 1. In an apparatus for concentrating weak acid derived frompetroleum sludge, the

combination of a series of inter-communiacid derived from petroleum sludge, the

combination of a series of inter-communicating open pans, a succeeding series of inter-communicating stills, the pans and stills being arranged on'the same level, a furnace beneath the pans and stills, the last pan communicating with the first still, a condenser connected With each still, and a Water-supply and discharge pipe for leading the noncondensable gases from all the condensers to the Water-supply.

3. In an apparatus for concentrating weak acid derived from petroleum sludge, the combination of a communicating series of open pans and stills provided with waterjacketed hoods and condensers and a furnace; a pipe leading from each still to each condenser to convey the residue of uncondensed vapor from the still to the condenser, a pipe conveying the products of. condensation from each condenser to the stills, .a

Water-supply pipe and a pipe leading the non-condensable gases to the Water-supply pipe.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

ELISHA BURRITT GRAY. Witnesses: J. A. J UDsoN, THOS. A. HOLLAND. 

